The Mercenaries of Graagh Moneybags (Now with list)

Hi

This is my Gnoblog for my next army of....................Ogres! Don't worry I haven't abandoned the Dwarfs its just there is sooo much painting to do. I will be returning to them with paintbrush in hand soon.

But for now I am starting planning my Mercenary themed Ogres. The general idea is that the force is led by one of Golfag's favourite whelps who has travelled the world making a name for himself, or should I say a few names, as his complete title is Graagh Moneybags Maneater the Ever-so-Incredibly Intelligent. Obviously he has some name Gnobbos to remember this for him but he barely needs it. You see Graagh is no ordinary Ogre, he possesses an intelligence akin to a developing child.

Enough with the fluff() the plan for the army is to have no Ogre looking alike. I wish to have one from every country and every race represented in my army. This includes undiscovered lands such as Ind and Nippon. I have already started on 3, a Cathayan Monk, a DoW Pirate and a Dwarf Slayer (all originally for my Dwarf army). Pics will be up soon along with fluff and a list.

Finally I would like your help. My army will consist of primarily those with the DoW special rule (MEs, LBs and Bulls) and I need ideas on what they should look like. Also all models are going to have a pet gnoblar so humourous ideas for these would be apreciated too. The only model you can't choose is my Tyrant who will be the Paymaster Maneater with Greasus' gold-throwing Gnobbos and the one with the huge fan on him. As an added incentive I will write the name of the person who came up with the idea (or a desired name) on the base of each Model, being their name. Those who don't get picked will either have a pet, fighter or trapper Gnob named after them.

Thanks for reading and be creative!

Malg

sounds like a great theme. I'm really looking forward to seeing all the different races and countrys represented in glorious ogre form

Thanks
Corai

Thanks Corai, the theme is what I'm aiming for more than winning, and I hope it shows through on the models.

I wrote some fluff yesterday and as promised here it is:


Sire,

Here is the report you asked me to compile on the infamous mercenary lord, Graagh Moneybags  ( full name Graagh Moneybags Maneater the Ever-so-Incredibly Intelligent.)

Graagh was a favoured son of the highly famous Golfag maneater. Whilst he was growing up it was noticed he was very intelligent for an Ogre. In fact know, at the peak of his life, he has aquired the brain size of a young child. For and Ogre this is amazing and has been the study of many of our scientists.

Due to his amazing intellect his father Golfag grew jealous as he may overthrow him or undercut his prices. One must note that a normal Ogre would eat his son there and then but after spending many years away from his homelands and culture Golfag spared his son and instead banished him from the tribe.

Graagh then set upon his life of mercenary work. He was a good fighter and made a plentiful bounty from fighting for Paymasters across the world and also made extra money from keeping other hired Ogres in their place. He soon became a popular, but expensive Mercenary. Due to this he was hired less because for the price he demanded one could hire two or maybe even three Ogres.

This then set Graagh upon his next set of jobs. He moved into the cities and worked as a tax or debt collector. In fact he became such a feared name in Altdorf anyone owing money would hand over all the money they owned, even if the Lender only put Graagh’s name in his letters. Also with his move into the city Graagh became one of the only Ogres in the world to know how to use a bank. This has been extremely useful to him as it has allowed him to hire armies and to gloat to his kin back home.

Finally with the Storm of Chaos Graagh grabbed a huge opportunity with his huge hands. He hired a band of mercenary Ogres from his homelands in the Mountains of Mourn. These Ogres had not served as mercenaries before and did not know the going rates, therefore Graagh had made a great investment. He then let these Ogres out to all the armies fighting in the great campaign, even the hated enemies! Afterwards he kept this army of Ogres as his own personal entourage and will hire himself out to anyone needing a lot of brute strength.

Graagh’s mercenaries can be easily distinguished on the battle field. This is because most of them have attempted to copy the garments worn by the armies they fought alongside in the battle and gives his army a very comical look. However do not underestimate them, underneath their acquired gear Is a huge mass of gut and muscle, which you wouldn’t want to be the other side of. If you hire them, remember instruct your men not to laugh at their costumes, as it will end in tears.

I hope this helps your decision sire, please tell me if you wish to hire him as he is in our fair city for only a week.

Your faithfully

Kurt von Ubenk


Thanks

Malg

Maneaters are pretty much already covered with the Pirate, Paymaster, Ninja and Bearded Lady miniatures.

For the Ironguts, I have this theme. In the Irongut box, u get shields from different races as decoration. In my box for example, I got an Empire shield, a Brettonian shield, a Dwarf shield and a Chaos shield. Following the shields, u convert the Irongut to look like the troop choice of that race which is armed with a great weapon, i.e. the Ogre with the Empire shield is converted to look like a Greatsword, the one with the Brettonian shield is converted to look like a Questing Knight, the one with the Dwarf shield is converted to look like a Longbeard or a Hammerer and the one with the Chaos shield is converted to look like a Chaos Warrior. The Ironguts' personal Gnoblars can also reflect this by using models from the races that the shields come from, representing servants picked up from the armies that they were hired from, i.e. the Brettonian Ogre could have a Peasant Man at Arms (This is a theme I'm using at the moment, and I have given my Brettonian-shield Ogre a Damsel in distress).

For the Bulls, convert them to look like the common rank and file troops from various armies, i.e. Swordsmen, Glade Guard, Gors etc.

For Gnoblars, I would use the models that generally act as cheap, horde troops or meat shields, or sacrifcial troops in armies, such as Skinks, Goblins/Snotlings, Hobgoblins, Empire Militia, Nurglings etc.

For Leadbelchers, I would convert the cannons they hold to look like ones nicked from certain races, i.e. one has a Dwarf cannon/flame cannon, one has an Empire cannon, one has a mini-Hellcannon or Earthshaker. Alternatively, for those races who don't use blackpowder, u could convert magical artifacts that represent cannons.

Hope Ive given u some good ideas, and looking forward to seeing ur pics.

Thanks for the ideas, they helped me visulise what I'm going to be doing. I drew some sketches of what I would like (I'm a terrible artist so I'm not showing them)

Anyway here are some ideas I came up with

Witch Elf Bull
Tomb Guard Irongut
Waywatcher Hunter
Engineer LB
Slaan Butcher
Halfling/Brettonian Butcher
and a few more...

Do these sound good? Keep posting ideas and names for the models

Cheers

Malg

Witch-Elf Bull: Kharga the Unclothed
Tomb Guard Irongut: Boney Bronzehide
Waywatcher Hunter: Jharos the Green Stomper
Engineer Leadbelcher: Aelfran Sootface
Slaan Butcher: Tlaxaloc Froggut
Halfling Butcher: Jonas Little the Stout
Brettonian Butcher: Dame Greta the Flabby

Nice,I like the names and thanks for all your help so far. Pictures of my first three (may be two depending on if I can be bothered to paint the monk) ogres will be up later today. Any more suggestions for possible race specific conversions are welcome.

Actually post them like this for ease when I refer to it whilst converting:

Ogre Name:
Race Copied:
Unit Type: (both Ogre and from the army they are copying)
Short Physical Description:

Cheers

Malg

Malg, ye scurvy ole rascal, that be a brilliant idea, an' no mistake!

Here are 2 ideas fer ye t' use.

Witchhunter Ogre (aka Grutgar Van Hel) armed with a repeater crossbow

Necromancer/Vampire Ogre (aka Vlad Eisenwanst*) armed with a spellbook/boomstaff)

Fluff: Grutgar Van Hel and Vlad Eisenwanst have a lot in common and are a nigh inseperable duo. They fought in the same conflict -albeit on different sides! It was a secret fastpaced guerilla war between a zealous Witchhunter who sort of adopted Grutgar as his protege, and a Necromancer and his followers. How Vlad hooked up with the Necromancer is unknown, but rumour says that he was good at getting ridd of failed attempts of reanimation because the Necro wasn't good at creating Undead. When the Witchhunters' Minions stormed the Necro's hideout, both Ogres blasted each other with their weapon before they wrestled with each other. In the end, it was only the Ogres who survived the encounter...


Eisenwanst is the german name fer 'em Ironguts)

Thanks Cap'n. Those two have given me great ideas and they will both be a leadbelcher squad. Grutgar with his repeating crossbow and Vlad with his Skullstaff, the later often causing mayhem, hence misfire rules.

Keep them coming guys!

Malg

I've been busy with my Gs and changed my Cathayan Maneater into Vlad. Be aware the GS isn't brilliant as I'm relatively new to it, but if you look at it right it looks like rags. (I hope! )

Anyway here are the pics







C & C welcome

Malg

U might want to slice up those lumps of GS with a modelling knife.

Quick update time!

I have worked on the Leadbelcher a bit and it looks vastly better, updated pics will be up soon after I get some more batteries for my camera! I have also been thinking up army lists and this is the best I have come up with:

Tyrant: Heavy Armour, Cathayan Longsword, Wyrdstone Necklace, Fistful of Laurels, Luck and Sword Gnoblar

Butcher: Halfling Cookbook, Dispel Scroll

Butcher: 2 Dispel Scrolls

3 Bulls, 2 Hand Weapons, Bellower

3 Bulls, 2 Hand Weapons, Bellower

3 Ironguts, Standard, Bellower

3 Ironguts, Standard, Bellower

2 Leadbelchers, Bellower

2 Leadbelchers, Bellower

3 Maneaters, 2 Great Weapons, 1 Cathayan Longsword

3 Maneaters, 1 Great Weapon, 2 Cathayan Longswords

Total value 1984pts (any help on the remaing 16 points very much appreciated)

Tactics.

The Tyrant Joins the last Maneater unit and the two units hold the centre of the field. The Ironguts and bulls support them, one unit of each on each side. Then the leadbelchers protect the flanks. I decided against most things in the list due to the theme, especially Gnoblars, but if things need to be added please feel free to comment.

Cheers

Malg

PS, full fluff army list will be hitting your screens soon